Imec, the world-leading research and innovation hub in nano-electronics and digital technology, will demonstrate today at its Imec Technology Forum in Antwerp (ITF Belgium 2018), a new wireless eye-tracking technology based ...

Fibrils of the protein alpha-synuclein, that plays a role in Parkinson's disease, form a stiffer and stronger network in water, when temperature is increased. Researchers of the University of Twente show that this has to ...

In many modern animated movies, the trick to achieving realistic movements for individual characters and objects lies in motion-capture technology. This process often involves someone wearing a tracking suit covered in small, ...

Like humans, mouse lemurs sometimes develop amyloid brain plaques and other Alzheimer's-like symptoms as they age. Because mouse lemurs are primates, they are a closer genetic match to humans than mice or rats are.

A new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers identified the structural basis for how tightly bound protein complexes are broken apart to become inactivated. The structure explains why the complexes are less ...

To cook an omelette, you have to scramble an egg, and like Humpty Dumpty it can never be put back together again. This is because the egg undergoes a set of physiological and chemical changes as it cooks, which cause its ...

One of the most contagious of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, is chronic wasting disease (CWD) which affects deer and represents a risk to human health and the health of farm animals. There are many problems ...

Motor proteins drive many of the essential processes in our cells. They move with a dancing motion, as Professor Erik Schäffer and his team have shown in a new study. In order to observe the tiny proteins, which are measured ...

Inside every cell is a complex infrastructure of organelles carrying out different functions. Organelles must exchange signals and materials to make the cell operate correctly. New technologies are allowing researchers to ...

Neurodegenerative disease

Neurodegenerative disease (Greek νέυρο-, néuro-, "nerval" and Latin dēgenerāre, "to decline" or "to worsen") is a condition in which cells of the brain and spinal cord are lost. The brain and spinal cord are composed of neurons that do different functions such as controlling movements, processing sensory information, and making decisions. Cells of the brain and spinal cord are not readily regenerated en masse, so excessive damage can be devastating. Neurodegenerative diseases result from deterioration of neurons or their myelin sheath which over time will lead to dysfunction and disabilities resulting from this.

Some sources limit the term "degenerative" to conditions primarily affecting gray matter that are not associated with a obvious inciting event.